Happy (almost) 2017 to our A.B.L.E. Friends and Family!

Scrolling around social media lately, general consensus seems to be that 2016 was terrible and people can’t wait for it to be over. But for A.B.L.E. at least, 2016 gave us a lot to celebrate! We took a leap and became our own free-standing organization after several years functioning under umbrella organizations. We’ve welcomed new volunteers, actors, and partnerships. We produced 2 stage shows and a feature film. And along the way, as always, we’ve had a lot of dance parties (46 to be exact).

Check Out Our Year-End Recap:

February 2016

Members of our ensemble perform at The Gala for community partner organization, Aspire.

February 2016

Our ensembles kick off rehearsals for Twelfth Night as part of Shakespeare 400 Chicago. This semester, we switched up class formats and split into two smaller ensembles of 10 with one group meeting on Monday night and the other on Fridays. These smaller class sizes allow our actors to get more personal attention, and it also gives our volunteers more options.

February 2016

Launch a crowdfunding campaign for our second feature film, The Spy Who Knew Me, on Hatchfund

April 2016

Field trip to see Short Shakespeare: Twelfth Night at Chicago Shakespeare Theater at Navy Pier. After the show, our cast is treated to an exclusive Q&A with the professional company, and a photo shoot on the stage.

Pre-production for The Spy Who Knew Me, securing locations such as The Field Museum, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Formally Modern Tuxedo, Fey & Co. Jewelers, and The Union League Club.

June 2016

Our Hatchfund Campaign for The Spy Who Knew Me closes. Donations ranged from $10 to $2000, and 142 individual donors contributed a total of over $22,000 to make our movie a reality!

August 2016

Principal Photography for The Spy Who Knew Me! Our cast spent the first two weeks of August bouncing around the city with a professional film crew shooting at a variety of locations to tell this unique spy-adventure story written especially for them by A.B.L.E. co-founder and teaching artist, Lawrence Kern.

New volunteers: Matt, Elizabeth, Alison, Naomi, Mara, Emily, and Braden, all joined in to help fall semester, and we welcomed a new actor, Anna to our Monday ensemble!

November 2016

We tell our supporters to #BeAScrooge and support us on Giving Tuesday!

December 2016

Our Monday and Friday ensembles created not one but TWO unique performances of A Dickens Christmas Carol at Victory Gardens Biograph Theater.

What's Next?

Founding members Andrew and Rachel both graduated this year. We would love to develop programming for adults like them in the year ahead.

we are looking forward to building on this success in 2017! Stay tuned for dates for our spring production of Pirates of Penzance in May, and for the big premiere of The Spy Who Knew Me in August. In September, we’ll kick off the 8th season of our core Stage Ensemble Program. We can’t announce the shows yet, but it will include a devised show and a canonical classic that we think everyone will find a piece of themselves in. Behind the scenes, as a young organization, we are still laying groundwork to ensure our structure is sound and supportive. We also have ideas for new programming; a priority in the next year is to lay out a plan to launch an Adult Program for actors like Rachel and Andrew who are now out of high school.

We Need Your Help!

If there’s anything we’ve learned, it’s that we cannot do this alone. We tell our actors all the time that we have to work together and support each other as an ensemble to create a show, and we need our community to be involved too! If you want to be a part of this exciting time in our Program, there are a few ways to be involved:

JOIN OUR BOARD

We are recruiting individuals who can share their experience and knowledge with our artistic team and help us further develop as a company. We are looking for board members with expertise in the following areas:

SUPPORT

As a young organization, your generosity matters greatly. Your tax-deductible contributions allow us to rent theatre and rehearsal space, source or make props and costumes for performances, create visual aids and other classroom supplies, and keep our program low cost of all of our participants. Every dollar counts!

Thank you to EVERYONE who made 2016 such a big year for us!

Check out this video for more photos, and be AMAZED at the number of people who contributed time, talents, expertise and funding to our program this year

In the years ahead, we are committed, as always to helping individuals with Down syndrome and developmental special needs to develop their own unique voices, and build the confidence and skills needed to share who they are and all that they are ABLE to do. Thank you for believing, like we believe, that everyone is ABLE to connect, ABLE to contribute, and ABLE to create, and for taking this journey with us!

Ever wished you could visit one of our rehearsals and meet the team that makes A.B.L.E. possible? Our blog lets you do just that! We take you behind the scenes for all of our rehearsals, profile our facilitators and actors, and give details on special events.

New content is posted every week so check back often to stay up-to-date with all things A.B.L.E.!